What are the disadvantages of being my own general contractor?
Doing it yourself usually costs more than you anticipate. Granted, the competitive pricing at “giant hardware superstores” might save you as much money on building supplies as a general contractor can…Maybe. But you’re likely to lose that profit margin on the labor end and you are responsible for purchasing and the timely delivery and quality of the materials. If materials are found to be bad or faulty you also have to deal with the return of the materials, credit your account and re-purchase and deliver more materials. Special order materials usually can’t be returned and most vendors charge a restocking fee. So much for your savings. Next, there’s the damage factor. You get what you paid for when you hire the cheapest labor and sub-contractors. Because of poor workmanship, you may have to fire a sub and then hire another contractor to tear out and re-do some of the work and to finish up the uncompleted portions and in essence pay twice to get the job done right. In contrast, general
